


Hot Topical

by MadMags85



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Season/Series 10, basically they go shopping, but also kinda angsty, obviously because I have decided that destiel is canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4036351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadMags85/pseuds/MadMags85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel needs to get Claire a birthday present, and asks Dean to tag along. Basically a one shot set in 10x20 (Angel Heart).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Topical

Dean strode swiftly back to the Impala, rage still pulsing outwards from the Mark on his arm. He tried not to show it, but he knew Cas could tell something was up. Cas always seemed to know when Dean was hiding something from him. Except, Dean mused, Cas still seemed to have no clue about Dean’s biggest secret, the one that he worked hard to hide from everybody. Cas above all.

Luckily for him, as they strode back to the car, Cas made no mention of Dean’s outburst at the bar. Dean sure as hell wasn’t gonna bring it up, so the two of them sat silently together in the Impala. Cars whizzed by, and Dean could see Cas glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, but the angel still said nothing.

“Dean?” Cas finally asked, and Dean braced himself for the lecture that was sure to follow. “Can we stop by that mall and find Claire a birthday present?”

Oh. Well that was unexpected. Dean raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Cas. “Really? Do you think she’d even want it?”

Cas shrugged. “I feel I owe it to her. She has no one else in her life that would give her one. Plus, I have learned that children often place great value on birthday presents. It might help me make amends.”

“Fine then,” Dean conceded, quickly putting on his turn signal and pulling into the parking lot of the mall. “I dunno why you’d bother, it’s not like you ever get me birthday presents or anything.”

“I…” Cas seemed at a loss for words. “I’m sorry, if I had known you wanted one…” Even in the low light of the car, Dean could have sworn Cas was turning bright red. “Next year—next year I’ll get you one. And party hats. People have those at birthdays; I saw it on the television. Also pie. Although I have heard cake is the more traditional birthday dessert, I know you like pie better—unless—unless you prefer cake on birthdays…or pie…whichever—”

“Cas!” Cas jumped, startled. Dean rolled his eyes. “Cas, man, it’s not a big deal. We’ve got bigger things to worry about than birthdays most of the time. Heck, I can’t even remember the last time I had a birthday celebration that was more than a shitton of beer after a good case.”

“Perhaps that is why you should have one,” Cas said. They were at the mall entrance now, and Dean hurried over so he could hold the door for Cas.

 “So, what were you thinking of getting her?” Dean asked quickly, desperate to move the topic away from himself.

Cas looked at him, genuine fear in his eyes. “I have no idea.”

Dean couldn’t help himself, he grinned at Cas’s terrified expression before placing a hand on his shoulder. “That’s alright man, there’s loads of stores here that sell stuff for teenagers. All we have to do is find them and then ask the store clerk what sort of things are ‘cool’ nowadays.”

“I see,” Cas said, nodding slowly. “Perhaps you should lead the way. The last time I went shopping for someone was when I was trying to apologize to you for losing the angel tablet. And they didn’t even have any pie…”

Dean huffed a laugh. “If only the angel tablet was our biggest problem now. Now I’ve got this—” He gestured vaguely to the Mark on his arm.

“I can feel it Cas,” he whispered, afraid to admit to Cas what he could barely admit to himself. “There…back in the bar…it’s getting worse.”

When Cas reached down to touch his arm, Dean’s head popped up quickly, shocked. Surprisingly, the burning sensation seemed to fade with Cas’s touch, though Dean couldn’t tell if this was just because he always reacted strongly whenever Cas came close. After all these years, he had figured he’d get used to these unreciprocated feelings for Castiel, but it hadn’t happened.

“Perhaps it would be best if you didn’t focus on it too much,” Cas said. “Why don’t we go find something for Claire instead?”

“Okay,” said Dean, and when Cas took his hand off of his arm to walk further into the mall, it was all Dean could do to prevent himself from reaching out and snatching back to clasp Cas’s hand within his own.

They meandered through Macys for a while, but Cas didn’t know what sized clothing Claire wore, much less what sort of style she’d like. Although Dean would have gone out on a limb and said she preferred flannels and jeans, just like a real hunter. Eventually they found themselves at a store called Hot Topic, which, in Cas’s words, “must have things related to topics which are ‘hot’ in popular culture right now.”

Dean had never been to a Hot Topic before, but immediately he saw that Cas was right. It was a dark, cluttered shop with t-shirts lining the walls, toys from TV shows Dean had vaguely heard about, and other themed items like mugs, bags and notebooks. He had drifted over to the Game of Thrones section when he heard Cas talking to the guy behind the counter.

“Do you have things a teenaged girl would like?” Cas was asking.

The kid shrugged, looking bored. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the whole store, man.”

Cas leaned in closer. “Yes, but what would _you_ recommend? Surely you know what girls your age would like for a birthday present. You have…dated girls, perhaps?”

The poor kid was looking a little scared by Cas’ intensity, so Dean walked over, ready to diffuse the situation if need be.

“How’s it goin’?” he asked Cas, placing a hand on his shoulder as he came up behind him. Immediately, the clerk’s eyes widened and he grinned as if suddenly having come to an understanding.

“I get it!” he said, still grinning at Cas, “You haven’t dated girls before! That’s why you’re so lost and don’t know what to get her for her birthday.” Dean frowned, wondering where the kid was going with this.

Cas stiffened his shoulders. “Yes. I would have thought it was obvious. I’m an a—”

“Gay!” the kid exclaimed, smiling brightly at both of them.

Dean choked, and snatched his hand away from Cas’s shoulder.

“It _totally_ makes sense now,” the guy was still blabbering away, oblivious to the way Dean was now turning beet red. “At first I was like, ‘how does this guy have no clue what to get a girl for her birthday,’ but then if you’ve never been interested in them in the first place…”

Dean tuned out the kid’s chatter, wondering vaguely why he couldn’t seem to get any words out. More importantly, he wondered why _Cas_ wasn’t contradicting the guy’s mistake. It at least made sense why Dean couldn’t speak, because in a way the kid was completely right about him. But Cas…as far as Cas was concerned, Dean was most definitely not dateable material. He wasn’t really sure what angels were into, but he knew for sure that Cas was not into him. Surely, if Cas had been into guys they would have done _something_ by now. Dean had slept with Anna, for chrissakes and they had only known each other for a couple days.

Cas and the sales clerk had walked over to a stand with various cat-related material. Dean smiled to himself. Of course Cas would choose the cat display over everything else. Currently, he was grasping a large stuffed Siamese cat with what was quite possibly the ugliest face for a stuffed animal that Dean had ever seen. The sales clerk seemed to be desperately trying to talk him out of it, but even from here Dean could tell that Cas’s mind was made up.

Sure enough, when they walked out of the store three minutes later Cas was holding a gift bag containing the stuffed cat. Apparently it was known as “Grumpy Cat,” which made a lot of sense.

“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” Dean asked after they had gone a few steps, not wanting to ask but needing to hear Cas’s answer at the same time.

Cas frowned. “What do you mean?”

“That guy!” Dean exclaimed, feeling the blush creep into his cheeks again. “You let him think we were together. Like, _together_ together!”

Cas shrugged. “So? We’ll never see him again. Why should it matter what he thinks? And it was easier than explaining our real story.”

“ _So?!_ ” Dean asked, incredulous, “It matters cuz you’re not…I mean, we’re not…you don’t like me like that!” A few meandering shoppers turned their heads to stare at him, but Dean didn’t notice. “It’s fine, Cas. I get it, okay? You don’t like me, never have. You don’t have to pretend for my sake!”

Cas was silent, and Dean could feel the weight of his outburst threatening to crush him. The Mark hummed on his arm, reflecting his anger at his own inadequacy. It was obvious Cas could never love him back, because no one could ever truly love the real Dean Winchester. Not Lisa, not his father, not even his own brother, Sam. They loved parts of him, sure, but if they knew his soul in the way that Cas did they would realize there was nothing to love.

Dean began to walk away from Cas, desperate to get to the car before him, desperate to get back to Sam where he could more easily pretend that this _thing_ wasn’t between them.

But then Cas grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. “Dean, stop!”

“Just…never mind, Cas. It doesn’t matter,” Dean said, looking down at his shoes. Anywhere but Cas’s eyes.

“Your feelings will always matter to me,” Cas said surely. “Now, do you want to tell me what this is all about? Is it the Mark bothering you?”

Dean scoffed. “Yeah right. This is a problem I’ve had way before I got this dumb Mark.” And then it all came tumbling out, right there on a bench in the middle of the shopping mall. Dean knew it was stupid to tell Cas these things, but he couldn’t help it. He told him how he had always had a bit of a crush on him, ever since Hell. How that crush had slowly developed into a burning need for his constant presence. How Dean had felt betrayed time and time again whenever Cas left him, after the apocalypse, after Purgatory, after Cas had run off with the angel tablet. But he also told him how he knew it was foolish, that he was certain his love would never be returned. That it was okay for Cas to step away, probably even a good idea, now that he had the Mark tormenting him at night with visions everyone he had ever loved dying under his own hand.

Dean could feel Cas’s eyes on him throughout the entirety of his confession, but he couldn’t bear to look back. He didn’t want to see the proof of Cas’s indifference before him.

“Oh, Dean,” he heard Cas say, and then suddenly a hand was on his cheek, lifting his head upwards so that Dean could see Cas’s face. All he noticed was a small, hesitant smile before Cas’s lips were on his own.

Dean froze, unwilling to believe that the moment he had dreamed of for so long was finally happening. Cas didn’t seem to notice Dean’s hesitation, and instead continued to kiss him, bringing his other hand up to tangle in Dean’s hair. Finally, Dean’s brain caught up and he let out a startled gasp before returning the kiss with desperate enthusiasm. He gripped Cas’s waist with his hand, trying to draw Cas as close as was humanly possible while still retaining some sense of modesty.

Finally, they broke apart, breathing hard. Cas’s hair was ruffled, and Dean hadn’t felt this content in years.

“I do feel the same way,” Cas said softly, placing a hand on Dean’s leg. “I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t think you wanted something like this.”

“I do, Cas. I really do,” Dean said. “I just don’t really know how…you know… _relationships_ work in this line of work. I figured you didn’t care, and so it’d be better not to try.”

Cas stood up, taking Dean’s hand within his own. “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to figure out for ourselves how it’s going to be. Because I want this, Dean. I want _you._ ”

***

Dean found that he couldn’t stop touching Cas on the way back to the motel. He kept his arm around the passenger seat throughout the drive, and entwined his fingers with Cas’s as they walked slowly back to the motel room. He couldn’t even keep his hand from reaching up to touch Cas’s shoulder as he turned the knob to walk into the motel room. But when he saw the confused, questioning look on Sam’s face when the two of them came in, Dean immediately pulled his hand back.

Perhaps telling Sam could wait.


End file.
